The Media Construction Of Barack Obama’s Masculinity In The2012Presidential Election

Masculinity is, at its core, a social and historical construct. It refers to thesocial and cultural expectations of a man and the manner and degree to which heacknowledges and lives up to them. Since the president is a special role in America,American people have put their ideal expectations for men on the president.Masculinity construction is important in American politics because it provides ashortcut for voters to evaluate the character and competence of a candidate, andinfluences the voters’ final decision. By analyzing the media’s coverage of the twocandidates in the2012presidential campaign, this thesis attempts to demonstrate themasculine image of Barack Obama in the media conforms to the defining masculinequalities for the ideal president.Besides introduction and conclusion, this thesis consists of four chapters.Chapter one makes an explanation of the main features of masculinity, some definingmasculine qualities for American president, and its employment in presidentialelections.Chapter two to four are the main parts of this thesis, primarily discussing themedia construction of masculinity in the2012election. Firstly, Chapter two dealswith the portrayal of Obama as a struggling man through analyzing the reports aboutObama and Romney’s life experiences and their sports hobbies. Next, in Chapterthree, the author presents the portrayal of a determined man through the analysis ofthe coverage about Obama’s fulfillment of promise and decisive action in his firstterm. Also the negative coverage about Romney’s flip-flops and his hesitant responseto public doubts is examined in this chapter. Chapter four demonstrates the portrayalof Obama as a responsible man through the analysis of the reports about Obama’sfamily life and professional performance. And the author examines the negativecoverage of Romney’s tax revenue and his job outsourcing, thus in contrast withObama’s image of a responsible man. It can be reasonably concluded that Barack Obama’s image of a responsible,determined and struggling man in the media conforms to the defining masculinequalities for ideal president. In addition, this thesis offers a concrete construction ofmasculinity in politics and some implications for the future candidates.